


FANART for Through a Frosted Glass of Fireflies by PaxDuane

by Quarra



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Dooku meets Hardcase, Fanart, M/M, Russian Fairy Tale AU, Watercolors, Winter scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 12:34:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29884638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quarra/pseuds/Quarra
Summary: This is a watercolor painting featuring a snowy, winter scene at sunset. Hardcase has agreed to work in exchange for his and his brother's safe passage through the Count's lands. The Count is intrigued. Despite his better judgement, Hardcase is, too.
Relationships: Dooku | Darth Tyranus/Hardcase
Comments: 9
Kudos: 20





	FANART for Through a Frosted Glass of Fireflies by PaxDuane

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PaxDuane](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaxDuane/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Through a Frosted Glass of Fireflies](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29012769) by [PaxDuane](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaxDuane/pseuds/PaxDuane). 



This is fanart for the absolutely LOVELY fic, Through a Frosted Glass of Fireflies. It's filled to the brim with lush imagery. I really, really enjoyed the story. So much, that I just had to do some art for it. 

This scene is from the beginning of the story, right after Hardcase agrees to stay in the Count's lands, earning gems to pay for his and his brother's passage.

\--  
_“Twenty gems for a day’s room and board,” the Count explains, “And twenty for each of your brothers’ passage through my lands. My people will pay you to do favors for them, to run parcels to each other, or to fulfil some small quest.”_

_Kase inspects the gem the Count gave him to check, suspecting it is hardly that easy. “Can they not do these things themselves?” he asks, handing the gem back._

_The Count presses the width of the gem to his thin lips. “There are things they cannot do as easily as a mortal or once-mortal. They cannot die, so they have no reason to find other ways.”_

_Kase knows the rules of the Fae world from his father’s stories. But those stories are just as well on their own. “There are mountains they’d have me cross in a day, grain from sand they’d have me separate, stars they’d have me harness. I do not have shoes that fly or a mother’s doll to feed or a god’s blood in my veins.”_

_The Count presses one corner of the gem to Kase’s forehead, then drags it down his nose to his lips. “Tell my people, tonight, how you thwarted the Wild Heads, and I will pay you fifty gems.”_

_Kase stares at him, no matter how impolite it might be. “Alright,” he says._

\--Excerpt from _Through a Frosted Glass of Fire_ by PaxDuane

\----

Note from artist: 

Given that the story is a Russian fairy tale AU, I attempted to emulate the style of Ivan Bilibin, who was famous for creating stunning illustrations for Russian fairy tale books. The style is often called Russian Art Nouveau, and is characterized by elaborate borders, flowing line work, and strong natural themes. A lot of the art work done in this style was created with woodblock printing, and it's said that Ivan Bilibin took some of his inspiration from the very famous Japanese woodblock prints, called Ukiyo-e, "picture[s] of the floating world". Bilibin's art in wonderfully detailed. Given the medium, the colors are often flat (with an exception or two in each picture, generally the sky), and a great deal of the detail work is in the ink outlines within the picture. The color selection is what modern tastes might call "unconventional". Each of his pieces tends to mix cool and warm colors, and sometimes shockingly bright tones as well. Any one part of the picture, when looked at alone, might contain colors that clash terribly. When viewed as a complete piece of art, the selections create a beautiful, cohesive whole. His color palates are extremely interesting and he favored showing traditional styles of dress, architecture, and decoration. 

I have done my (eeek) best to recreate that style. 

There were at least three scenes from Through a Frosted Glass of Fireflies that I wanted to create art for, but this one right at the beginning won out. All around the border of the picture are images from the Star Wars universe. 

The top corners feature Count Dooku's unique lightsaber hilt. The symbol in the middle boxes on the top row is from the Fett family, and is most notably worn on Boba Fett's armor. The symbol in the very middle of the top and bottom rows, the green circle, is the symbol for Count Dooku's noble house on Serenno. The bottom corners of the border contain the symbol for the True Mandalorians. Next to them is a stylized depiction of the paint on Hardcase's helmet. Again, in the middle is the green emblem for Dooku's noble house. All down the sides of the border are half images of the Jedi Order firebird. 

The fic doesn't specifically describe what Hardcase is wearing at the beginning of the story, so I guessed. From the text at the end about the Fett family's home, I guessed that their normal, every day wear was probably modern. The Fetts are also smart and know the ways of Fairy, so I guessed that Hardcase might have some kind of armor to wear. So he got drawn in armor, painted to match his clone trooper armor. Dooku's is described as always wearing black and grey. I looked at traditional clothing for boyars, and gave him the tall fur hat, long coat trimmed with fur, and long robes.

PaxDuane, I really loved your story and I hope that you like this art too :) I did my best to make it awesome.


End file.
